Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 350 Emperor Taizong and Emperor Zhenzong
Li Ang's words immediately aroused Emperor Zhenzong's suspicion!

That makes sense, though. After all, he was the emperor. Even if his behavior was flawed and he wasn't a wise ruler, Emperor Zhenzong was still the supreme ruler and naturally wary of power.

Therefore, after hearing Li Ang's incisive words, it no longer mattered what Emperor Zhenzong was really thinking. In order to maintain the dignity of the emperor, he had to suppress his ministers and let them know what imperial authority meant.

At this critical moment, however, the Right Chancellor Xiao Zheyue remained unfazed and spoke out with righteous indignation, stating that Emperor Zhenzong's actions were absurd and contrary to propriety.

Of course, Xiao Zheyue's actions were not out of a desire to gain the upper hand, but rather because he had his own principles to uphold!
In Xiao Zheyue's mind, his action was not out of selfishness or a desire for personal revenge, but rather he purely hoped to set a bottom line for future emperors—that emperors cannot act arbitrarily!

After all, the two emperors before Emperor Zhenzong were Emperor Taizu, the founding emperor, and Emperor Taizong, the wise and sagacious ruler. Both were men of great talent and ambition, and their civil and military achievements were outstanding. Their ministers and officials could not restrain them in the slightest.

The current Emperor Zhenzong is not very capable and is quite indecisive, which is exactly what sets him apart as a benchmark for establishing rules. Therefore, the Right Chancellor Xiao Zheyue believes this and attempts to use his influence to establish rules, thereby setting the legal order for future emperors.

Unfortunately, Xiao Zheyue guessed Zhenzong's temperament but overlooked Li Ang's existence.

While Emperor Jinzong might waver depending on the Right Chancellor's attitude, the words of the Left Chancellor, Li Ang, were enough to solidify his resolve.

Emperor Shinzong's character is somewhat ambiguous. He cannot be described as a wise and virtuous ruler, nor can he be directly described as a tyrant or a foolish ruler. Of course, some of his actions are indeed difficult to describe.

In fact, in his early years, Emperor Zhenzong was quite capable. Although he could not match the great talent and ambition of his father and grandfather, he could still be considered a wise and virtuous man. Otherwise, he would not have been able to gain Emperor Taizong's approval and inherit the throne.

However, perhaps because he had been too repressed in front of Emperor Taizong, he quickly rebelled after Emperor Zhenzong ascended the throne, directly revealing his most evil side—indulging in pleasure and disregarding the suffering of the people!
However, thanks to the accumulation of power during Emperor Taizong's reign, if Emperor Zhenzong didn't cause any trouble, there wouldn't be any major upheavals during his reign. It's very likely that things would proceed smoothly, and the throne would eventually pass to Emperor Renzong.

After all, among Emperor Zhenzong's sons, Emperor Renzong was the best in terms of both status and ability. It would be impossible for him not to succeed to the throne.

When Emperor Taizong was alive, he had seen through Emperor Zhenzong's nature and knew that he was not a wise ruler. However, among Emperor Taizong's sons, Emperor Zhenzong was the most suitable.

After all, the intelligent prince was not only too young, but also lacked the proper status to suppress his brothers or even the court officials. More importantly, Emperor Zhenzong held the moral high ground, being the legitimate son of Emperor Taizong and born to the reigning empress.

Therefore, on his deathbed, Emperor Taizong specially left three assistant ministers in the court for Emperor Zhenzong to use: Right Chancellor Xiao Zheyue, Duke of Yingguo Zhang Ji, and Imperial Clan Minister Hong Yue.

These three assistant ministers were not only to assist Emperor Zhenzong in ruling the country, but also to ensure that he did not make any mistakes. In Emperor Taizong's plan, Xiao Zheyue was responsible for handling people's livelihood and government affairs, while Zhang Ji was responsible for military affairs. Among the three, the important task of keeping a close eye on Emperor Zhenzong was to be handed over to Hong Yue, the Zongzheng, who was a member of the royal family.

However, since Lao Zongzheng was an old man from the time of Emperor Taizu, although he did not participate in the wars at the beginning of the founding of the dynasty, he made great achievements during the reign of Emperor Taizong and did many things that benefited the country and the people. It was precisely because of this that Lao Zongzheng was able to win the trust of Emperor Taizong and entrust Emperor Zhenzong to him on his deathbed.

After all, among these three assistant ministers, the one who could truly discipline Emperor Zhenzong was the old Imperial Clan Minister. Because the old Imperial Clan Minister was Emperor Zhenzong's elder and was also an assistant minister appointed by Emperor Taizong, he had the right to exercise this power both morally and legally.

Unfortunately, Emperor Taizong could not have foreseen that the ever-energetic and vigorous Emperor Zongzheng would catch a cold six months after his death and subsequently pass away.

Furthermore, not only the old Zongzheng, but also the old Duke of Ying, Zhang Ji, suffered from poor health for the next three years and was sometimes unable to attend to matters of state. This led Emperor Zhenzong to eventually let himself go and become an increasingly unruly emperor.

Getting back to the main point, with the support of the Left Chancellor, Emperor Zhenzong naturally became even more determined to personally lead an expedition against Northern Liang in order to establish unparalleled merit and so that he could hold his head high when he met his father and grandfather in the future.

Therefore, under Li Ang's scheme, Emperor Zhenzong flew into a rage at that court meeting and forcefully decided on the matter of personally leading the expedition. In fact, Emperor Zhenzong was still not satisfied and directly punished Xiao Zheyue by deducting his salary for a year as a warning to others!

Although the salary was no longer a significant amount once one reached the position of Right Chancellor, the impact of this action was far-reaching.

This result proves that Li Ang's side has won.

Originally, in the court, although the Left Chancellor had the advantage, the gap between the two was not large. After all, Emperor Zhenzong was not a fool. His imperial skills were taught by Emperor Taizong. Although he was content with enjoying himself and neglected state affairs, he would not completely relinquish power to the Left Chancellor. There had to be someone in the court to counterbalance the Left Chancellor's power, and the Right Chancellor, Xiao Zheyue, was the pawn he chose.

It must be said that Li Ang's skill in changing people's hearts is far superior to Xiao Zheyue's!

However, it's hard to say for sure. After all, both of them are exceptionally intelligent people. Xiao Zheyue was simply unwilling to bow down and lost her principles, while Li Ang didn't care about that. In fact, he was even willing to do some embarrassing things.

As long as he can achieve his goal!

The reason why Lord Shen likes Sheng Changquan so much is precisely this: "This kid's personality is simply a carbon copy of Li Ang's."

Lord Shen had investigated Sheng Changquan, so he naturally knew most of what Sheng Changquan had experienced since childhood. He even saw the little tricks Sheng Changquan used to make a name for himself after participating in the imperial examinations.

Originally, these were nothing special, just some talent and a little cunning. However, what made Lord Shen look at him with higher regard was that, at the height of his glory six years ago, he actually chose to travel and study for six years.

Moreover, what shocked Lord Shen the most was that there were many gaps in Sheng Changquan's six years, gaps that even Lord Shen had not been able to investigate thoroughly!
This really shocked him!

First of all, thank you all for your suggestions. Aside from a few readers who jokingly invited me to "enter the factory" (a euphemism for being overly friendly), I, the humble author, am extremely grateful! However, I must say that she genuinely said she was single at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have been so "brave." Actually, I just wanted to know if she truly had someone in her heart, or if she was just trying to imply that I was a good person? I was too embarrassed to ask that question...

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(End of this chapter)